Dudley 2 – Narrowboat Firecrest

Locking down

After 28 glorious lock free miles we were about to be brought back down to reality. We waved goodbye to the beautiful Bumblehole.

And set off, only one lock at Blowers Green pump house where the Dudley 2 meets the Dudley 1. (If we had turned right we would have reached the dudley tunnel which is restricted access only)

Blowers Green lock, junction of Dudley 1 and 2

And just as we were safely in the lock, we heard sirens and a police car skidded to a halt, 2 officers leapt out, luckily they didnt consider our windlass a deady weapon, they were chasing a suspect on a motorbike last seen on the towpath, fortunately not by us, and they declined a ride on firecrest when they realised they could walk faster than we cruise. We carried on south for an overnight stop at Merry Hill because despite the beautiful blue sky we were being buffeted around by some force 9 gales.

Tempting though the M&S food hall is, if you have too much of a good thing it stops becoming a treat. And sadly we also experiences some unwanted attention from the locals. We heard a suspicious sound outside the boat and found 6 lads in their 20s sitting on the roof taking photos. There was nothing malicious in their intent, just obliviousness to it being our home. They were very apologetic. And then a school kid, who was with his family decided to kick the boat as he walked past, he got yelled at and ran off before I got the chance to throw a bucket of water over him cause he was anything but apologetic. Where are the police when you need them – chasing proper criminals we hope. We’ll give this mooring a miss in future. But now fully fuelled with adrenaline, we set off. The plan was just to do the Black Delph flight,

can’t see the bottom, but its only 8 locks

8 locks dropping 85′ but we struck gold with 2 volunteers and between us preparing the lock ahead meant we were down in well under an hour.

We thought we’d found a safe place to moor

But the sun was now shining and we were intent on going down not up. The Stourbridge 16 isn’t the most salubrious areas at the top,

But again we struck gold, not with an official volunteer, just an old guy with a windlass who liked to work locks, he didn’t stop to chat, he just walked ahead to prepare the next lock leaving us to work our way down. We did persuade him to accept a pint to show our thanks, because not having that extra step of having to fill the lock ahead, made all the difference between us enjoying the journey and it becoming a hard slog.

The flight drops 145′ and it does get prettier and the industrial heritage more interesting. Stourbridge was known for its glass making and the Red House Cone is a prominent feature. Built around 1790 the 100′ chimney is designed to draw the heat from the furnaces below so the temperature reaches 1000°C. Originally the glass was used for windows but in the 1830s production changed to bottles and tableware. Stuart Crystal was made here until 1930s.

The Red House Cone, one of the last remaining chimneys.

There is visitor mooring outside the cone, but with the last off the locks in site we decided to make the most of our helper and continue to the bottom.

24 locks over 5 miles all in 1 day. I could have done with a fish and chip super, but we made do with a dine in for 2 from M&S instead. 158miles to go and 118 locks

Where only the brave go, or the intrepid….

We do like the mooring at the Bumblehole, but curiosity got the better of us, wondering what we’d find down the Hawne Arm.

We had been warned that the Gosty Tunnel was low and the water shallow, but the rewards would be cheap diesel at Hawne basin…. Paul and his crew from Waterways Routes, were moored next to us, and encouraged us to give it a go

A lot of effort has been put into encouraging people to make the most of the canals around here, and local artist Luke Perry has a series of 31 sculptures that represent the people and heritage of the Dudley 2, This graffiti artist is telling us that this was the Tollmans office, where he would set the toll fee using a notched freeboard stick to calculate the weight of the boat.

Sadly there’s a lot of derelict neglect to be seen around here, despite some gems, the sculpture we liked the most is the elephant, who was found frolicking in the canal in the 1900s. I wonder how CRT would have handled that one…

For a backwater only 2 miles long there was plenty to make us smile,

And the geese don’t mind building their nests amongst the rubble

Then the entrance to the notoriously low Gosty Tunnel

Which isn’t all that long, and didn’t seem that low…..

At first…

But there was a nice friendly fella distracting us from the warning white paint

Or perhaps not so friendly

And yes we really did have to duck

But we followed the light at the end of the tunnel and made it out, without becoming victim to the rocky sides or count dracula. We were treated to some impressive old brickwork. This stretch of the canal had been vital to the former Stewarts and Lloyd’s steel works.

No wonder Tolkein got inspiration for Lord of the Rings from here

Hawne Basin had been the rail interchange for transhipment of S&Ls huge steel tubes, and is now the end of navigation. The original line had gone a further 5 miles to Selly Oak cutting out the centre of Birmingham

We picked up fuel for less than £/l wishing we had had an emptier tank. The reception was welcoming, and the community spirit obvious, I am sure they would have found us space for an overnight stay if we had asked. But we’d decided to make the return trip to Bumblehole the same day. Eric had promised me a black country speciality for tea, battered chips. Yes they really were that orange, and yes there was a huge piece of fish under them. Another good reason to plan a return trip this way.

The Midlands March, Nice Ice

We’ve woken up to frost and ice most days this week

And whilst Eric is sensible and stays inside, I can’t resist being outside enjoying the diamond encrusted scenery

I wasn’t the only one out walking, male swans are known as cobs, so quite appropriate that Mr Bumble the resident male, is posing in front of Cobb’s Engine House. (Female swans are known as pens)

We’ve been incredibly lucky, to have had sunshine every day.

although we’ve also had a bit of misty fog, the blue sky was just behind

But what can I say, we probably picked the best week possible to stay here

The scenery speaks for itself

All within 10 minutes of our warm snug boat

The Midlands March, Discovering the Bumble Hole

We hadn’t expected to find quite such a gem of a mooring in the middle of a nature reserve, in the middle of the Black Country. So much so that we both agreed it needed further exploration. First we had to discover what is the Bumble Hole. Nowadays it is a small lake that gives it’s name to a nature reserve but 300 years ago, it was a clay pit.

However a map from the 1780’s show the Bumble Hole was the name of a house built next to the brook that was purloined to build the contour canal.

Bumble means murmuring water, and Hole refers to the hollow next to the ford crossing the track, (which became Northfield Road). There was a windmill along this branch which gave rise to this conglomeration of canal arms being known as the Windmill End junction.

In front of the windmill is Harris’s Boatyard, which built and serviced the many boats used for transporting goods to and fro during the industrial revolution. But now it is a quiet residential mooring. The land has alongside the Bumble Hole has been reclaimed and turned into a nature reserve.

Besides the canals, all that’s left of the coal mining, quarries and foundries that scarred this landscape are the occasional red brick foundations that can be seen in the ground, ponds and lakes that had been pits, and the Cobb’s Engine house. All taken care of by the Bumble hole conservation group.

The Cobb’s Engine House housed one of James Watts beam engines, used to pump an average of 1.67 million litres (367 500 gallons) of water every single day out of the mines and into the canal. Sadly it’s only the brickwork that remains now, but we were able to walk around and continue up the hill to look back to our mooring , (which we can’t actually see from here)

But we knew we were standing over the Netherton Tunnel. Once we’d started walking up the hill we carried on, out of the nature reserve, across the Dudley golf club

past Turners Hill transmitter site.

Until we’d reached the summit. And with the greens of the golf course and the nature reserve to the west behind us,

we could see over to the west, the modern sprawl of Birmingham, which is where we will be cruising through over the coming month.

Birmingham, approx 6 miles to the East, as the crow flies

Our walk gave us quite some cause to contemplate, how lucky we are to no longer be shrouded in pollution, and to have these pockets of beauty amidst such a densely populated area, yet whilst we shuddered at the thought of what it was like 300 years ago, what would life be like now if we hadn’t had the industrial revolution. And what must we do to nurture our planet and society for the good of all. No time for complacency.

Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning

https://www.dudley.gov.uk/resident/environment/countryside/nature-reserves/bumble-hole-and-warrens-hall-local-nature-res/